Hey, history buffs. Submit your unofficial historical locations around town.
Have you ever looked at a local spot and thought, “This place deserves to be commemorated?” Our city is full of legendary locations — many of which are indicated by historical markers. Historical markers reveal significant places, streets, neighborhoods, buildings, businesses, and cultural events from the past or present. Think: The Bessie Smith Cultural Center or Cravens House.
But not all significant areas get the attention they deserve. What about Bea’s Restaurant? Which was one of the late Leslie Jordan’s favorite local spots to eat. Or Joseph Giri’s “Flying Doughnut” mural, which is so beloved it was saved from being painted over. We want to put these places on the map — literally.
Rules + details
Submit your historic place for a chance to be featured nationwide on our historical marker map. Our favorite submissions will then be featured in our newsletter, where we’ll put it to a vote. Who knows? Maybe it will receive an official historical marker.
Finalists will be selected by our team and announced in our newsletter. These finalists will then go head-to-head in a vote for our readers’ favorite. The winner will be announced later in December. No promises that it will get an actual historical marker, but it will be one in our hearts.
Want to know more about official historical markers around town? Check out the Historical Marker Database.
The results
The votes are in for the NOOGAtoday historical markers contest. Check out the finalists below, including the contest winner decided by your votes.
Winner: The Houston Museum of Decorative Arts
With almost 39% of the votes from our readers, this museum that’s been operating since 1961 is our winner. The Houston Museum of Decorative Arts honors the legacy of Anna Safley Houston, a local businesswoman and antique collector.
Naughty Cat Cafe
Pawsibly the cutest runner-up, this spot got the 25% of the votes. The space that is now home to over 30 adoptable cats was once a Confederama museum for over 30 years before it was purchased by Rock City in 1992, later becoming the Battle for Chattanooga Museum in 1994. The museum moved to the entrance of Point Park on Lookout Mountain and a Blockbuster occupied the space until 2010.
Bea’s Restuarant
This fourth-generation, family-owned restaurant has been serving up family-style meals since 1950 — and 16% of you think it should be memorialized. The Dodds Avenue spot received several submissions from our readers + recently celebrated their 74th year in business.
Ochs Memorial Temple
This memorial was built by Adolph Ochs, a newspaper publisher + the former owner of The Chattanooga Times, now known as the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Ochs built the memorial in 1928 in honor of his parents Julius and Bertha Ochs and later donated it to the Mizpah Congregation.
13-15 West Ninth Street
Where the Mogan Stanley building now stands was formerly the office of J.W. Kelly & Co. — one of the first establishments in Chattanooga following the Civil War known for its distillery, Deep Spring. When the Tennessee prohibition was enacted, the company moved to Kentucky, but kept their building until 1920. The building was also home to Duff Drug Co. and several other businesses until the 1980s when it was torn down and Miller Plaza was constructed.
It doesn’t stop there — we got more submissions than these. Just check out our map of unofficial historical locations — both locally and across the nation.
